Walter Molino 1915-1997, Italy, “Il Gatto Infuriato” 1967. The angry cat. [facebook.com]

Color illustration of a stray cat terrorizing a group of men. The cat is on one man's head, attacking the man, who does not seem to like it.

Get a room, you two!

Landscape of two tall sagouro cactuses in the desert growing side-by-side, their branches intertwined.
Black and white publicity photo of Eddie Munster lying in a bureau drawer smiling with a werewolf doll

Reading about James Clavell. We have two episodes left to watch in “Shogun.” [en.m.wikipedia.org]

Son: "I can't sleep, I think the bougie man's under the bed" Me: "don't you mean the boogeyman?" Voice from under the bed: "wow the thread count on these sheets is PATHETIC”

Barbaric: A Texas man filed legal action to scrutinize his ex-partner’s out-of state abortion.

[wapo.st]

If the woman proceeded with the abortion, even in a state where the procedure remains legal, Davis would seek a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding the abortion and “pursue wrongful-death claims against anyone involved in the killing of his unborn child,” the lawyer wrote in a letter, according to records.

Vintage magazine cover for “The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction” featuring a woman with a surprised expression, a flower in her hair, and a man with a spear in the background. Text lists authors including James Blish, Gordon R. Dickson, Isaac Asimov, Fritz Lieber, Ron Goulart and Avram Davidson

White text on black background. Them: Are you going to be part of the problem or part of the solu Me: Oh problem, definitely Them: That wasn’t…it was a rhetorica Me: I have some ideas on how to make the problem even funnier than it is

A black and white photo of a building with a large vertical silo next to it that reads “Dairy Barn Stores.” There’s a vintage car parked in front of the building. Trees with no leaves in background.

Dairy Barn was a drive-through convenience store popular on Long Island when I was growing up.

Magazine cover titled “MICROCOMPUTING” featuring a young woman smiling, holding textbooks, and a man carrying an early model of a portable computer. Both are standing outdoors and chatting. Looks like a magazine cover ca. 1983. Subheading says “MICROCOMPUTERS IN EDUCATION”

Archie Goodwin on the joy of voting

From “A Family Affair,” a Nero Wolfe novel by Rex Stout:

I have never understood why anybody passes up that bargain. It doesn’t cost a cent, and for that couple of minutes, you’re the star of the show, with top billing. It’s the only way that really counts for you to say I’m it, I’m the one that decides what’s going to happen and who’s going to make it happen. It’s the only time I really feel important and know I have a right to. Wonderful. Sometimes the feeling lasts all the way home if somebody doesn’t bump me.

Something I wrote: Walmart scales stupendous global network on open source fierce-network.com

A small orange kitten sitting on a computer keyboard with text above that reads “The decoy keyboard is working,” and an arrow pointing to a second keyboard under the desk.

Jarrod Blundy loves his Meta smart glasses for rock climbing and running

I’ve been using the Meta Ray-Ban Smart Glasses for about a month now, and I’m finding even more reasons to wear them all the time.

[heydingus.net]

If Apple came out with something like this that took prescription lenses and cost under, say, $1,500, I’d be tempted. If those glasses were equipped with a Siri version that had GPT-4’s excellent language recognition, I’d be even MORE tempted. If those glasses included facial recognition, I’d be in love—I am moderately faceblind and I hate that I go around not remembering people’s names.

The Sci-Fi Writer Who Invented Conspiracy Theory

Analee Newitz: Paul Linebarger was a US Army intelligence officer who pioneered psyops and wrote science fiction under the pseudonym “Cordwainer Smith.” His stories read today like Qanon conspiracy theories. [theatlantic.com]

Linebarger, who died of a heart attack in 1966 at age 53, could not have predicted that tropes from his sci-fi stories about mind control and techno-authoritarianism would shape 21st-century American political rhetoric. But the persistence of his ideas is far from accidental, because Linebarger wasn’t just a writer and soldier. He was an anti-communist intelligence operative who helped define U.S. psychological operations, or psyops, during World War II and the Cold War. His essential insight was that the most effective psychological warfare is storytelling. Linebarger saw psyops as an emotionally intense, persuasive form of fiction–and, to him, no genre engaged people’s imagination better than science fiction.

Newitz’s latest book is Stories Are Weapons: Psychological Warfare and the American Mind.

A social media screenshot featuring a tweet from “Uncle Duke” with a humorous caption about giving “tim” a head start, accompanied by a photo of a sign that mistakenly reads “TAKE ONLY PHOTOS, LEAVE ONLY FOOTPRINTS, KILL ONLY TIM PLEASE STAY ON THE TRAILS”

📷Something I saw while I was walking the dog A quirky mailbox mounted on a wooden post, designed to resemble the front of a car with a cream-colored body, a wooden bumper, and toy wheels.

A unique bedroom with wood-paneled walls, a bed designed to look as if it’s resting on a giant hand, and a foot-shaped base at the foot of the bed.

77 Types of Notes to Keep in #Obsidian [amerpie.lol] Also: 10 Lesser Known But Super Useful Obsidian Plugins [amerpie.lol]